Miner s check-holder



PATENTBD FEB. 23, 190% 1). P. ADAMS. MINERS CHECK HOLDER.

" urmonxon FILED OUT. 20. 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

KK) k) W/TNESSESL ams pzrtns p0. wumouwa. WASHINGTON, 0:5.

. No. 752,638. PATBNTEIi FEB. 23, 1904. D. P. ADAMS.

MINBRS CHECK HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 20, 1903.

' mum ll WITNESSES: INVENTOR ,QP/hiams.

N 4", I ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES Patented February 23, 1904.

DENNIS PATTERSON ADAMS, OF HUNTINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

MINERS CHECK-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 752,638, dated February 23, 1904.

Application filed October 20, 1903. Serial No. 177,731- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DENNIS PATTERSON ADAMs, residing at Huntington, in the county of Oabell and State of West Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Miners Check- Holder, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to holders or receivers usually attached to mining-cars into which the miner or other person who is entitled to pay for loading the cars may insert his check for the same; and the primary object of my invention is to provide an, improved receiver or holder for the purposes stated of a simple and economical construction especially designed to prevent tampering with the checks deposited therein during the passage of the car from the mine to the weighmaster.

As is well known, in mining coal each miner is supplied with checks having specially designating numbers or identification-marks, and the said checks are individually placed by the miners on the cars individually loaded by them, which are afterward removed by the weighmaster at the dump or tipple.

Ordinarily the miner hangs his check on v the car or deposits the same in the box secured on the car in such a manner that access thereto may be readily had by others while the car is in transit to the tipple or weighmaster, and such method of sending forward the checks has been found very objectionable, for the reason that dishonest or meddlesome miners or others may readily replace the check of another with that of their own and also attach their own with that of the miner who loaded the car and is rightfully entitled to pay therefor, which causes much confusion and loss to the miner entitled to the pay for the loaded car turned in.

To obviate the objectionnoted, check-holders have been provided, so far asI am aware, in which the check is locked in the holder and is removed only by the weighmaster or other proper person by a key or other special unlocking devices; but such means have not been brought into general use, for the reason that key-lock check-holders are expensive and too much time is required for unlocking the same, and, again, in the said type of check-holders it is possible to insert a second check after the first one has been entered, thereby making it impossible to determine the name of the operator entitled to the credit for the load.

My invention in its generic nature comprehends an improved construction of checkholders adapted to receive but a single check at a time and when the first check is entered to automatically close the check slot or throat and in which the check cannot be removed until the car has been tipped.

My invention also embodies an improved check-holder in which but a single check at a time can be entered and carried forward with the loaded car and in which means are provided for preventing the withdrawal of the check while the loaded car is in transit to the weighmaster or tipple and which means automatically shift to an unlocking position when the car is tipped to permit of the ready withdrawal of the check.

In its more subordinate features my invention consists in certain details of construction and combination of parts, all of which will be hereinafter fully described, and specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a side elevation of a coal-car with my improvement applied, the closure or slide member being at the locked position. Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the car on the tipple or dump and the side member shifted to an unlocking position. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the check-holder, the parts being connected and in an operative relation. Fig. 4 is a hori zontal section of the the same, taken practically on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the same on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4: and illustrating the check-engaged closure member at its open position. Fig. 6 is a similar View showing the check within the holder and the closure member shifted to close off the check-slide or receiving-throat. Fig. 7 is a detail view of the check-engaged or gravity member hereinbefore referred to. Fig. Sis a vertical section taken practically on the line 8 8 of Fig. 3, the slide member being at its locked position; and Fig. 9 is a detail view of the slide-lock or gravity-catch.

In the practical construction my checkholder is adapted for use on either the sides or ends of a car, 'whereby to automatically operate in the manner hereinafter described, upon cars that dump or tip sidewise or endwise, and the said holder comprises, essentially, three metal plates cast, pressed, or otherwise formed, and the several plates are disposed flatwise in parallel planes and are joined by screws, rivets, or lugs. The back or rear plate A is also also provided with apertured ears to a for firmly securing the entire device to the side of a car.

By referring now particularly to Figs. 3 and 5 of the drawings it will be noticed the back plate A has a flange (0 extending along its edges, whereby to form a shallow recess or pocket a ,.in.to which the check is deposited and to accomodate the check-engaged member B, presently again referred to, and at one edge the plate A has an extension which forms a throat a for the reception of the check C and which communicates with the pocket or recess (0 The closure or gravity member B comprises a curved heel-piece b,which merges with the extension I), that terminates in a head 5 and the said member B, which has a weighted butt 6, is pivotally supported upon a fulcrumstud a normally in such a mannerthat is, when no check is contained in the holderthat the curved heel b is disposed below the discharge end of the throat to receive the impact of and support the check C when the latter is pushed through the throat a, and the said member B is so balanced that when the check 0 falls upon the end or heel piece 6 the said member B is shifted to bring the head 5 over the discharge end of the throat a to close the same, to which position it is held by the weight of the check.

D D designate flat plates having the general contour of the plate A and which fit over the front of the said plate A and form the front wall for the recess or pocket (0 and the said plates D D have their adjacent edges d 03 separated to produce a diagonal recess d to receive the slide or look plate E, endwise movable in the recess and provided with a knobe for manipulating it, as shown.

The plate E is utilized for closing an outlet 9 in the cover-plate G, through which the check is withdrawn from the holder by the weighmaster or other proper person, and the said plate E when shoved into the closed position, as shown in Fig. 3, is held to the said position by the gravity -catch F, pivotally mounted on the stud-pin f and held to swing in the recess between the adjacent plate D and cover-plate G, the toe F of the said catch engaging with the notch e in the plate E, as shown. The cover-plate G also has a long slot g through which passes the neck of the knob e, and it also has a peep-hole 6 to permit sighting the check within the holder when the plate E is pushed down over the said check.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the drawings, it is believed the manner in which my check-holder operates and its advantages will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which it appertains.

' When the car is on a level track and the slide E is pushed in and locked and the check is deposited, the member B is shifted by the weight of the check to cause its end B to close the check-throat, while the catch F holds the slide E locked, and so long as the car remains on a level track the check within the holder is positively held from withdrawal and the insertion of another check is prevented.

When the car is tipped, the end of the catch F swings back by gravity to the position shown in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 3, and thereby becomes disengaged from the slide E, which then can be drawn out to give access to the check in the holder, which is then readily drawn out from the holder through the opening 9 in the cover-plate Gr provided therefor.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. Aminers check-holder; comprising a receiver having athroat for the insertion of the check, means for locking the check within the said receiver, said means being automatically released when the car to which the holder is attached is tipped.

2. Aminers check-holder; comprising a receiver having a throat for the insertion of the check, a device for closing said throat, said device being controlled by the entrance of the check inserted, an outlet for the deposited check and means for closing the said outlet for the purposes described.

3. Aminers check-holder having a receiving-chamber provided with a throat for the insertion of a check, a cut-off for the said throat mounted within the said chamber, and controlled by the first check inserted to out off the said throat, said holder having an outlet for the deposited check, a cut-off for said outlet, an automatically-operating means for holding the slide closed until the car on which the holder is mounted is tipped as set forth.

4. A check-holder having a receiving portion provided with a throat for the insertion of the check, a lever pivotally mounted within said pocket, adapted to catch the inserted check and to be tilted by the weight thereof to close the check-throat, said holder having an outlet for the deposited check and a cut-off for said outlet slidably mounted between the said outlet and the check-receiving pocket, as set forth.

5. A check-holder comprising a back plate adapted to be secured to the car-body, said plate having a recess for the check and an entrance-throat, a gravity-lever mounted within said recess and including an arm adapted to receive and hold the deposited check and having an extension adapted to close the throat provided with a check-receiving throat that V communicates with the said pocket, a gravitylever mounted within the said pocket having a member to catch and hold the deposited check, and having a portion adapted to close the receiving-throat, a cover-plate having a check-outlet, a movable member for closing the said outlet, a lock for engaging said out let-closing member, consisting of a gravityactuated pivoted latch adapted to disengage with the said outlet-closing member when the 20 car, to which the holder is attached, is tipped.

DENNIS PATTERSON ADAMS.

Witnesses:

W. K. CoWDEN, W. W. ADAMS. 

